Important News & Updates from your PTA!

by Lori Reed ·
Published February 15, 2015
· Updated February 16, 2015

Important News & Updates from your PTA!

It’s hard to think that the end of the school year is right around the corner – but it is, and there are some large projects coming up that we need your help with! Please read through the information below (we know there’s quite a bit of it!) Please let us know if you are able to help with any area below.

CARNIVAL
The school carnival is scheduled for May 29, 2015 – but planning and coordination needs to get underway soon. We have been specifically asked by Mr. Blix to develop a plan and build our team so that he is comfortable with our planning (and that he knows that we have parent support).

At this time, we are looking for a few key players to assist with the planning. We are going to break Carnival into a few chunks, so that no one person is being asked to coordinate everything. Of course, we will all need to work together to have a coordinated effort, but we are hoping by piecing it out, that we will have more people offer to take on a portion of the work (rather than being overwhelmed with “doing it all”).

We are looking for people to take on:Entertainment: This person would be responsible for coordinating any outside vendors (bouncy houses, petting zoo, fire department, Master Shon’s TKD, balloon lady, etc).

Games: CHE already owns several carnival-style games. This person would be responsible for determining how many game stations we would have, working with the Carnival team on a layout for where games would be set up, and ensuring that we have all of the parts/pieces/accessories needed for each station.

Volunteers: We cannot run a carnival without a lot of game-day volunteers! This person would work closely with the Entertainment and Games chairs to determine how many volunteers we need at each station, and create a Sign Up Genius platform to recruit volunteers.

Carnival Coordinator: This person would coordinate with all of the above teams and help to work out any cross-team needs. This person would also ensure that plans are moving forward appropriately and report back tot he Board and to Mr. Blix at each PTA meeting between now and May.5TH GRADE PARTY
5th Grade Party planning is already underway. Please contact our 5th Grade Party Chair, April Smith, at asmith5278@yahoo.com to get on her email/facebook groups. This project really does require a lot of help from parents! It’s also a great time for 4th grade parents to get involved so you have an idea of what is required for next year (when your kids are 5th graders!)PTA BOARD ELECTIONS
Our fabulous Treasurer, Tammy Fossett, will be “graduating” with her 5th grader this spring, so we are in need of a new Treasurer for the 2015/2016 school year. Do you love numbers? Do you have a financial background? Would you like to be more involved with your school and the PTA board? Please consider stepping up to this important role.

MARCH PTA MEETING: MARCH 10, 6:30 PM
Our next PTA meeting is on March 10. We are excited to have a very special guest speaker, Toni Pace, Assistant Superintendent of K-12 Support in attendance. She will be speaking to Common Core in our schools and the new Smarter Balanced testing method that our kids will be participating in this spring.

If you missed the February PTA meeting, you may not have heard that Mr. Blix has announced that he will be retiring in June. We have also asked Ms. Pace to speak to what the selection process for our new Principal will look like. We will have a 6:30 start time so that we can cover regular PTA business, then Ms. Pace will have the floor at 7 PM. We have planned plenty of time for Q&A. This is a great opportunity for us to have district leadership at our local school. We invite you to attend and bring your questions! We will have childcare in the gym for this meeting.

SPECIAL 5TH GRADE PARENT MEETING – MARCH 17, 6:00 PM
We will be offering a special parent meeting for our 5th grade families on Tuesday, March 17th at 6:00 PM.

We will have a guest speaker, Morgan Griffith, who will offer a presentation on Middle School Transitions. Get some helpful tips and strategies on how to support your 5th grader with the transition to middle school. This presentation is sponsored by the Federal Way Sylvan Learning Center, and will focus on three critical areas of transition during a child’s middle years:

Academic Challenges, with a special emphasis on reading, math and organization;
Brain Development;
Social Adjustments, like risk-taking and the importance of positive peers

We have invited Timothy Berndt, the new Principal of Meeker Middle School to come and introduce himself, talk about life at Meeker, and offer his insight into preparing your child for their entry to middle school. There will also be sufficient time for Q&A with Mr. Berndt. This is another great opportunity for parents to connect, meet Mr. Berndt, and ask questions. We really hope that you will join us for this informational evening.